If you listen to the nightly news, you’ll hear that “the economy is doing well”. Markets are up. Corporate profits are strong. Politicians point to growth numbers as proof that things are on track.

But the reality for working families looks more red than green. The top 10% of Americans own 87% of all stocks. The top 1% alone owns about half of the entire market. 

For most of us, our financial well-being isn’t tied to Wall Street. It’s tied to wages, healthcare costs, housing prices, childcare, and whether our paycheck lasts until the next one.

So it’s no surprise that, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, under the current tax changes in 2026, nearly every income group except the richest 1% is paying more in taxes this year.

The poorest 20% are paying about $480 more.
The second 20%: about $860 more.
Middle-income families: about $850 more.
The fourth 20%: nearly $1,000 more.
Even the next 15% are paying more.
Meanwhile, the richest 1% receive an average tax cut of roughly $8,850.

At a time when groceries cost more, rent is up, insurance premiums are rising, and families are juggling multiple jobs, working people are being asked to pay more — while those at the very top get substantial tax breaks.

Since 1975, an estimated $79 trillion has shifted from the bottom 90% of Americans to the top 1%. That didn’t happen by accident. It happened through policy choices — tax structures, deregulation, weakened labor laws, and repeated decisions to prioritize capital over workers.

This helps explain why so many people feel like the economy isn’t working for them, even when headlines say otherwise.

When politicians say “the economy is strong,” they often point to GDP and the stock market. But those numbers don’t measure whether families can afford childcare. They don’t measure whether someone can retire with dignity. They don’t measure whether public services are funded or understaffed.

The stock market is not the economy. A rising index does not mean rising stability for working families. If nearly all stock wealth is concentrated at the top, then market performance alone cannot define economic health.

An economy should be judged by whether working people can build secure lives. By whether public schools are funded. By whether healthcare is accessible. By whether retirement is realistic. By whether families can save instead of constantly scrambling.

If your paycheck feels stretched thinner, you are not imagining it. If the headlines don’t match your household budget, you are not wrong.

Unions remain one of the most effective tools working people have to push back against decades of upward wealth transfer. Through collective bargaining, political engagement, and solidarity, we can fight for tax systems and economic policies that reward work — not just wealth.

The question isn’t whether the economy is growing, but who is it growing for? And until working families share fully in that growth, our work isn’t done.